LeBron James leads LA to refreshing victory
back. Marcus Morris had a team- high 23 points and six rebounds for the Celtics, who shot 43 percent overall in a tightlycontested game in front of a crowd of 17,500 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena.
Indiana 101- 97 after Boston’s Kyrie Irving hit a three- pointer with 37 seconds remaining.
Oladipo was fouled by Jaylen Brown with 29 seconds left and made free throws to cut Celtic lead to 101- 99.
With the clock winding down, Oladipo seized a defensive rebound and dribbled up the court before stopping on the right side and nailing a three pointer over top of Boston center Al Horford.
On the next Boston possession, Gordon Hayward inbounded and had his pass deflected and stolen by Oladipo, who tossed the ball up to begin the victory celebration.
“We were really calm. The crowd was excited, but we were calm. We knew we needed one more stop,” Oladipo said. Harden returns Elsewhere, James Harden scored 25 points in his return to the Houston lineup, and the Rockets defeated the Chicago Bulls 96- 88.
The NBA’s reigning MVP Harden scored 11 straight points in a two minute span of the third quarter as the Rockets went on a 15- 0 run.
Harden had missed three games with a sore left hamstring, suffering the injury in a loss to Utah on October 24.
Harden started slowly in his return to the lineup. He didn’t score until completing a driving layup with 3: 55 left in the second quarter. Then he hit backtoback shots from beyond the arc.
Houston won their second game in as many nights after beginning the season a dismal 1- 5.
In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid continued to manhandle other teams around the NBA, scoring a game high 39 points and snagging 17 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 109- 99 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Embiid scored 32 points in a dominating first half.
Detroit got as close as five with 4: 48 remaining before an Embiid layup and JJ Redick’s threepointer which pushed the lead to a comfortable 10 points. — AFP both the